Q&A: Finding Value With Robert Olstein

Editor's Note: The following is an excerpt available exclusively at TheStreet.com from an interview originally published by Value Investor Insight.

Longtime financial sleuth Robert Olstein is a skeptic at heart. "I always focus on what can go wrong first," he says, explaining that long-term outperformance is "highly correlated with avoiding serious errors." This "defense first" approach has served him well: Through June, the $1.9 billion (OFALX Quote)Olstein Financial Alert fund has returned an average of 15.9% annually -- vs. 9.4% for the S&P 500 -- since the fund was started in 1995.

Olstein finds today's market lacking valuation extremes, and that is fine with him. "It's a stock-picker's market," he says. ...